17/07/2015

‘Glory‘
marked a welcome return from pioneering French electronic artist
Jean-Michel Jarre and national peers M83. Having already garnered
impressive collaborations alongside Gesaffelstein, Massive Attack and
Tangerine Dream for his impending return to the full-length album
format, 16 Bit Lolitas join the ranks of Steve Angello and Above & Beyond this month with their own rendition of Jarre’s latest collaborative offering.

With
label duties spanning Armada, microCastle and Anjunadeep, 16 Bit
Lolita’s long serving reputation for versatile productions has seldom
gone overlooked. Behind the wheel of ‘Glory,’ a blissfully dreamy and
melodically charged sound scope is executed that hits home the delicate
yet powerful production prowess we have come to expect from anything the
duo touches. Where there has been a recent tendency for remix packages
to focus on stacking buzz artists, the quality of the duo’s latest
offerings brings genuinely exciting new textures to the accomplished
original. This is a remix no-less intriguing than the return of
Jean-Michel and what is shaping up to be a landmark album offering from
the French heavyweight.

14/07/2015

Electronic,
ambient, and new-age pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre has announced a
collaboration with Erasure’s Vince Clarke on his upcoming 14th studio
album “E-Project”. “E-Project” will be released on October 16th and will
feature 16 collaborations with M83, the late Edgar Froese of Tangerine
Dream, Gesaffelstein and Massive Attack’s 3-D plus further artists who
are still yet to be announced.

It is Jarre’s first release of
original music since his 2007 album “Teo & Tea”. You can pre-order
the album (and get a few tracks already) via iTunes and via via Amazon.

Some
of these collaborations have already been released. In April 2015,
Jarre released a collaboration with Gesaffelstein (“Conquistador”),
another piece from his new album (“Glory”) he recorded in collaboration
with M83 was released as part of the soundtrack of a short film called
“EMIC”. The track composed in collaboration with late Edgar Froese and
Tangerine Dream, entitled “Zero Gravity”, was released, together with a
remix made by Above and Beyond. The recording with the late Edgar Froese
of Tangerine Dream was one of Froese’s last projects before passing
away in the January of 2015.

Below you can check out “Automatic”, the track Jean-Michel Jarre and Vince Clarke recorded together.

Gesaffelstein takes the prefix of his name from “Gesamtkunstwerk” —
German for “total work of art.”

His devoted cult following could take
solace in the fact that, though he was concluding the run of his Aleph-based
live show – which many, including this writer, would consider the most
perfectly calculated performance in recent dance music history — he
would still be creating, and working towards becoming a “total work of
art.”

Since retiring the corinthian pillars and white beacons,
Gesaffelstein has quietly been involved in a number of projects. He has collaborated with legendary French composer Jean-Michel Jarre, he’s provided the score for Diane Kruger’s acclaimed film Disorder, but we haven’t yet seen any solitary work from Gesaffelstein himself.

Yet.
Today, Gesaffelstein fans rejoice, speculate, and look at their calendars after he laconically posted to Facebook, “www.gesaffelstein.com.”

The site is fully black, and provides only a countdown, and a musical
backdrop of an ominous buildup that never culminates.
Right now, the
ticker sits at 63 days. We don’t know what Gesaffelstein has in store
for September, but we know it will be unforgettable.

Jean-Michel Jarre To Release Collaboration Concept Album Around The Legacy Of Electronic Music On October 16, 2015

Photo credit: Mashinskiy Constantin

New York, NY (Top40 Charts) JEAN-MICHEL JARRE's new album-working
title E-Project- is now available for pre-order via all retailers and
his official website, with its release date set for October 16 via Ultra
Music.

The project was conceived with JARRE's wish to encompass the last few
decades of electronic music with the participation of outstanding
artists of all generations with whom he felt especially connected with
by a common DNA .The album features 16 collaborations, including the
so-far-revealed M83, Tangerine Dream, Gesaffelstein and 3D from Massive Attack.

"I've wanted to tell a story for a while regarding electronic music
history from my point of view and experience, from when I started to
nowadays," JARRE says. "So I planned to collaborate with array of
artists who are, directly or indirectly, linked to this scene, over the
last four decades that I've been making electronic music-with people I
admire for their singular contribution to our genre, that represent a
source of inspiration for me but who also have an instantly recognizable
sound. At the outset, I had no idea how this project would evolve, but I
was delighted that everybody I reached out to accepted my invitation."

Original demos were composed and produced by JARRE specifically for
each artist. They in turn were invited to bring their unique spirit and
signature to the recording, after which he completed the project.

The collaborative bent of this ambitious music project, was first
revealed with the release of an epic first track made with rising French
producer Gesaffelstein ("Conquistador"). Since then, JEAN-MICHEL JARRE
teased his fans with tracks with German electronic music pioneers
Tangerine Dream ("Zero Gravity"), French act M83 ("Glory") and Massive Attack's 3D ("Watching You"),
a set of artists whose influence spans generations. The rest of the
album will feature 12 more collaborators yet to be revealed. Each
collaborator is personally introduced by an individual track story
featuring JMJ and the respective artist on screen.

For the first time in his career, JARRE will also release a box set for
the album with exclusive content up for pre-order via his website only.
The ultimate Fan Box Set is limited to 1000 units and hand signed and
numbered by JEAN-MICHEL JARRE personally.
iTunes: smarturl.it/jmjit

About JEAN-MICHEL JARRE:

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE has been one of the pioneering forces throughout the
electronic music scene over the last four decades, having originally
made his name in the 1970s for his critically acclaimed album OXYGENE.
OXYGENE was unmistakably a catalyst that set electronic music well on
its way to becoming the behemoth that it is today, with JEAN-MICHEL's
music and follow through albums breaking down boundaries of composing
and production paving the path for what has become today the most
popular genre of music of all times.With over 80 million albums sold
worldwide to date, musicians and contemporary DJs often refer to JARRE's
influence and innovation, not only for his music but also for his
singular vision and creation of outdoor concerts experience.

JEAN-MICHEL
JARRE's legendary concerts have attracted Guinness Record-breaking
audiences, with his live shows often, if not always, taking place in
some of the most extraordinary settings worldwide. He was the first
western musician ever to be invited to perform in post-Mao China, and
has also played the likes of the Great Pyramids in Egypt, The Sahara
Desert and The Eiffel Tower in addition to perhaps his most famous
performance ever, where he played to a record 3.5 million people in
Moscow. All in all, JARRE has held Guinness World Records for the
largest live audiences over the continents.

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE is
synonymous with the legendary as he continues to break new ground with
each piece of music and live performance.

09/07/2015

ON AIR: September 19, 2015 – arte – 11:10PM

Directed by Beryl Koltz
52’ HD - CULTURE / MUSIC

They hunt urban and natural landscapes searching for sounds. The world itself is their musical instrument. By using everyday objects and recording the familiar sounds that surround us, they transform our everyday environment into an original musical creation. The name they chose for themselves: soundhunters.

Pierre Schaeffer, the father of musique concrète, whose greatest legacy is electronic music, invited us to consider music in terms of sounds rather than notes. This vision opened the way to exploring our natural or urban surroundings, recording all languages and manipulating everyday objects : a leaf in the wind, an effervescent aspirin, a Finnish phoneme or coffee being poured into a cup. Today, every sound can be recorded, hijacked, manipulated and reinvented into an original musical creation.

SOUNDHUNTERS – a musical expedition – traces the adventure of KIZ, two new coming musicians, into the world of Soundhunters. From Paris to Malmö, from London to Baltimore, the film follows their encounters with exceptional musicians from very different backgrounds and genres. Integrating the sounds from their journey into exciting musical scenes, KIZ playfully show us how the world can be turned into a limitless music instrument.

Thanks to an original staging, SOUNDHUNTERS offers spectators an encounter with multiple renowned artists from various generations and musical backgrounds, such as Matthew Herbert, Matmos, Chassol, Jean-Michel Jarre, Blixa Bargeld or Cosmo Sheldrake.

“Only France is now able to offer me the necessary protection
against the political persecution,” Assange said, adding
that welcoming him would not only be humanitarian, “but also
probably a symbolic gesture, sending an encouragement to all
journalists and whistleblowers in the world, who risk their lives
every day to allow their citizens to take another step closer to
the truth.”

This week, a number of French cultural figures, including
director Jacques Audiard, actor Vincent Cassel and composer Jean
Michel Jarre, signed a petition asking the French president to
“act firmly” and grant political asylum to Julian
Assange and Edward Snowden, who have been paying “the price
of exile for their courage” for several years.

Saying that the whistleblowers have been “subjected to
constant harassment... for revealing violation of the rights of
millions of human beings and sovereignty of many states,
including France,” the country has a duty to accommodate
those “who are persecuted because of their fight for
freedom,” the letter published on Mediapart, a French online
journal, stated.

Get your track selected by Jean-Michel Jarre and published in the "ZOOLOOK REVISITED" ALBUM!

The
SOUNDHUNTERS project celebrates the use of sounds from our daily life
to make creative music. This is also a tribute to the «Zoolook» album
released in 1984 by Jean-Michel Jarre. More than 30 years later, you get
the chance to participate in the «Zoolook Revisited» album alongside 4
famous electronic musicians: Daedelus, Luke Vibert, Simonne Jones and
Mikael Seifu. Be among the 6 lucky chosen ones by Jean-Michel Jarre and
get a publishing contract in due form!

Electronic music great Jean-Michel Jarre recently let Swedish House Mafia don Steve Angello take the reins on a remix of his M83 (a.k.a. Anthony Gonzalez) collaboration "Glory." Revisiting the source material once again, the song's been treated to a music video.

The clip was directed by Lisa Paclet, who used sports as her central theme. She offered up the following statement about the release:

When I listened to "Glory", I was struck by the lyrics "we could never have it all" that, to me, crystalized a very contemporary feeling of impotence. Jean-Michel Jarre told me he wanted the video to be "dark and sunny," so I opted for a slightly sardonic take on the concept of "glory." I wanted to glorify useless action though a series of absurd sports, preformed by athletes that run after unreachable, constantly shifting goals. Their performances are scrutinized by a uniform, stoic, public whose reaction to their efforts is synchronized and coordinated like a well-oiled machine.

As the clip progresses, the athletes subtly rebel against their pointless task though deliberate action of failure, breaking the repetitive cycle to which they are constrained. Their failures reveal a breach of humanity, which ricochets within the public, who in turn reacts in a progressively entropic fashion.

Watch the video for "Glory" below.

"Glory" is out now as a 12-inch and will also appear on Jarre's upcoming studio album, which has yet to firm up a release date.

CISAC President and Vice-Presidents have written to the President of the European Parliament, to express their views on discussions concerning the use of works of art located in public places.

Jean Michel Jarre, Angélique Kidjo, Javed Akhtar, Marcelo Piñeyro, and Ousmane Sow expressed concerns with respect to the proposal of Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda to allow the use of photographs, video footage and other images of works which are permanently located in public places, without the prior authorisation of the creator and irrespective of the commercial nature of such uses. The proposal, which was originally included in MEP Reda’s report to the Legal Affairs Committee from January this year, was later revised to exclude commercial uses of such works without prior authorisation. This revision triggered an aggressive campaign against the amendment and against the interests of creators of public art.

In the letter, the creators called the European Parliament to safeguard the rights of authors against the erosion of the value of their works in favour of a limited number of big commercial stakeholders, who are building global businesses and amassing significant profit on the back of the authors’ community. They encouraged the European MEPs to adopt a decision that would take into consideration all interests involved, at its upcoming plenary session on 9 July.

CISAC President Jean-Michel Jarre Shares His Perspective on Creators Rights

President Jean-Michel Jarre’s keynote speech from CISAC’s recent
General Assembly in Brussels has been reproduced as an editorial in this
week’s edition of Music Week. Jarre takes a strong stance in favour of
the creators’ position on fair remuneration.
Beginning with a recollection of his pioneering 1981 concerts in
China, Jarre observes just how far the country has travelled in
copyright protection as the two biggest players in the domestic on-line
market call for stronger IP protection.

They understand that in order to develop a competitive online
environment and an online market that continues to develop for the
benefit of everyone, you first need to protect creators. They really get
it.

As there is still a long way to go to deliver the same message in the
US, Europe and in other regions around the world where
copyright/authors’ rights are being challenged, Jarre calls upon all
creators to make their voices heard and invites digital services to get
onboard to agree “fair-trade” conditions for the creators that fuel
their value streams.

“This is the fight for our future and for the future of the next generations of creators,” said Jarre

The full article is available and is reproduced with the kind permission

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Jean Michel Jarre first came to international fame with his number one hit album, « OXYGENE » which went on to sell over 18 million copies worldwide.

A pioneer in his field, Jarre has largely contributed to the fastest growing musical revolution of the 20th century, electronic music : conceiving music in terms of sounds rather than only in terms of notes, and thus allowing the composer to become his own craftsman.

Having followed formal studies of harmony and counterpoint at the Conservatoire de Paris, he was inspired to reinvent music at its core, with his own singular vision, deploying the technology and tools of his epoch.

This pioneering approach gave birth to worldwide hit albums such as "OXYGENE","EQUINOXE", MAGNETIC FIELDS", "ZOOLOOK", "RENDEZVOUS", "WAITING FOR COUSTEAU"...over 80 million albums sold to date.

Following through with his revolution in music, he also conceived a brand-new genre and format of concerts; breaking away from the traditional theatre and arena context, Jarre brought his music and vision outdoors to the masses. Often free and open-to-all, these stateof- the-art concert-spectaculars showcase the natural or urban environment in which they are performed -- a truly singular sonic and visual "land-art" event, conceived and performed on a unique scale for a one-off experience.

Jarre's legendary concerts have attracted Guinness Record-breaking audiences across the planet. They take place in exceptional settings, marking extra-ordinary contexts: first western musician invited to perform in post-Mao Red China, Millennium at the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Houston City concert in collaboration with NASA in memory of the Challenger space crew, Concert for His Holiness Pope John Paul II, France's Eiffel Tower in celebration of World Cup victory, Gdansk's shipyard at the initiative of Nobel Peace Laureate Lech Walesa, London's Docklands, Beijing's Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the Sahara Desert...to the absolute record live audience of 3.5 million in Moscow.

Most recently, Jean Michel Jarre embarked on his first ever world tour which has already taken him to over 30 countries with over 220 performances.

July 2011, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco called upon Jean Michel Jarre to celebrate his Royal Wedding by creating and performing a concert-event in the Principality which was largely broadcast on television & Internet worldwide to an estimated audience of 3 billion.

The French musician has a dedicated ongoing engagement to the United Nations via UNESCO, as Ambassador and spokesperson for Environment and Education.